If you think a Lava Leaf Spinelle is bad, think about what happens if this one is released...

For those can't read the characters, it is a Lv.127 Novia Spinelle. Found this picture in the forum signature of a Chinese GE player, who also wrote "如果你想开红杀我 举报 我会放她出来在", i.e. "If you try to PK me, I will let her out". LOL.

Two premium characters dropped out of the Mystery Boxes. So, the family recruited Adelina the Pirate Skank (Lv.44) and Soho the Flatulent... um, the Wind (Lv.40). Meanwhile, Emilia the Slut is still teasing me and playing hard-to-get. Maybe I should just buy her off from some pimp.

Adelina the Pirate is given the name Titania, after the fairy queen in Shakespeare's A Midsummer's Night Dream. On the other hand, Soho the Wind is named Pazrael, which is an alias for Pazuzu, the Babylonian demon king of the wind, in Dungeons & Dragons RPG. (Maybe I should have named him Flatulus, the Ephebian God of the Winds in Discworld novels.)

Pazrael gives Titania much-needed support for her titanic... um, knockers.Thelandira tries out her Le Blanc costume and looks on in surprise.

Now, I have the same old line-up problem. Which characters should I use as a main team to get to expert? I'm currently using Romina-Musketeer-Elementalist. (I started with Fighter-Musketeer-Scout, then replace…

As previously announced, K2 injected Mystery Boxes as Christmas gifts into the qualifying accounts. I received the boxes for Christmas Eve yesterday, and the ones for Christmas today. The injection was supposed to take a week, and so considering how long it took to get their official Christmas announcements, it was much faster than I expected. Well done. Keep it up, K2!

I opened several boxes and got the following stuffs:Adelina the Pirate Skank [Stats]Soho the Flatulent [Stats]Lv.80 Enchantment Chip x20 <- FAIL Ancient Area Pass (7-days)Ancient Area Pass (7-days)Lucifer Wings (7-days)Le Blanc CostumeOtite Perfume x5Triumph Filler x20Survival Manual (+20% drop rate; 30-days)I have heard of players with 30+ Otite Perfumes. Gosh. Who wanna live in the poorly-lit, super-laggy Land of the Dead? I guess Ancient Area is going to be really crowded, since many people got the free pass. If so, there will probably be players who release spinelles on AFK-ers just to get training spots. Maybe I…

The Launch Notice of Giovanni server in sGE mentioned EXP rate will be doubled for 30 days. However, some players noted that EXP rate in Giovanni does not seem to be better than other servers. Soon, players started investigating. The EXP test consists of creating a new Lv.1 character (0% EXP) and using her to solo-kill one Grassland Crocodile (Lv.4) in the Stone Pits. (Note: The HP differences are due to family level and Max HP stat from pioneer armor.)

Demetius started the test with Beth in sGE's Giovanni server (which is supposed to have x2 EXP):

He repeated the same test with Beth in sGE's Rembrandt server (which supposedly has normal EXP rate):

Where the heck is the x2 EXP? Both characters ended up with the same EXP. Long-time players in Rembrandt do not experience x2 EXP, so it can't be both servers getting x2 EXP rate. I tested it independently and got the same results. Essentially, a Lv.1 character needs 121 EXP to advance to Lv.2. One Grassland Crocodile (Lv.4) gives …

The veterans joined one of the Christmas events where mobs from Glacial Fortress (aka Ice Wizard's Tower) were spawned all over the map. As usual, it was a mega-lag fest. Just lying dead on the ground was enough to cause a disconnection... Eskarina (wiz) joined 2-3 hunts for missing GM, but failed miserably. (Those who found the GM received 2 free Mystery Boxes.)

Telos clan lost both Zona Uno and Dos colonies to Maelstrom clan this week, so no more colony buff for the family. On the other hand, Anahita (sco) went on 2 treasure hunts, but Erisia family found both of them in the Free Zone. On the 2nd time, he/she found the treasure, but didn…

Finally, K2 released an official Christmas announcement on 25 Dec 2008 (7 pm PST). The following are the line-up of freebies. See K2-Neume's Merry Christmas for details. Since K2 injects items into accounts instead of letting players get them as "premium items" from Leonardo, it is going to take a while...

24-28 Dec 2008: Free Santa Hat and Rudolph Hat for every player.

29 Dec 2008-4 Jan 2009: Free 5 Mystery Boxes for all players who logged in on 24 Dec; and another 5 boxes for all who logged in on 25 Dec. Premium players will also get 1 Le Blanc costume and 10 additional Mystery Boxes.

5-11 Jan 2009: Free 3 Lucifer Wings (30-days) and 1 Veteran Promotion Scroll for all players who logged in on 31 Dec; and another 3 wings and 1 scroll for all who logged in on 1 Jan.

15 Jan 2009: Free Diabolic Horns (30-days; max. 1 per account) for any player who purchased $10 or more from 25 Dec 2008 to 1 Jan 2009.

A forum event was organized to design forum signatures for some of the new K2 staff members, ending on 26 Dec 2008 with a unknown prize. See the submission threads for K2-Guinn and K2-Amatol/Adoncia. The following are my entries.

There were also unannounced in-game hide-and-seek events, with the winner getting 2 mystery boxes. Some families received Rudolph Hat and/or Santa Hat, while others received none at all. The epic fail part is that until now, there is still no official announcement of what exactly are the plans for Christmas... and it is already Christmas Eve (PST)!

Anyway, Merry Christmas to any one who happens to read this blog!That's you!

The GE Family Signature site, Another Lonely Soul, is no longer accessible. I happened to download the base images (i.e. without the levels and red/blue backgrounds) before the site went down. You may download them from the link below to make your own signatures.

Sample Base Image

You can also get the full-body images from the older site Nouveau Monde. Apparently, Rysas of Orpesia e-mailed the creator of the website, Hishiryo/Zanshin, and got the following reply here:

I actually wouldn't mind somebody else hosting the generator since I've grown tired of the game itself and I don't see a reason to keep doing it if I'm not interested in the game anymore. The site can use up to 100 GB of traffic a month, if you think K2 would allow that, we can work something out. It requires that much bandwidth because all the pictures are in png and users from all versions of Granado Espada use it (5,700 accounts registered, although I doubt that many people really use it).

The first expert character in the server to complete Bahama pioneering quests will get 3 serpent weapons, 3 Le Noir armors, or Selva RNPC card. Naturally, to be the first, players will be burning lots of Combat Manuals and Ancient Territory Passes. Another money-making strategy. Ka-ching! $$$

It is now less a week before Christmas. The team for sGE has already announced several Christmas events/gifts. White Christmas included free Ruldoph Hat and Santa Hat. Hrin's Blog mentioned the upcoming Angel Hat and Ruldoph Back Costume.

On the other hand, Sword of the New World still does not have an official announcement about Christmas. There will be no holiday patch. All there is so far is a sneak preview by AM-Neume in SNW Holiday forum topic. Sword team needs to get their act together.

Update: The Angel Band hat and Rudolph Doll back costume are free for every 70,000 G-Poin…

Yesterday, I encountered Broche, clan leader of Arachnid, in Bahamar Wetlands. He suddenly showed up near my team (probably warped over), then started to kill and loot. I was using a pet then, so my family probably looked AFK. I tried using a few skills to show that I'm active. But after a while, it became evident that he is botting, probably with basic modified AI since the advanced botters can relog and warp back when dead.

This is why I think he is botting...He doesn't respond in any way when I tell him to please move on and not to KS.He picks up all loots, including a rifle bullet that I dropped despite using a Claude-Fighter-Scout team. (No pet is used.)He still doesn't respond when I summoned Thoracotomy x3 on him. (I wanted to report him, but no AM was online then.)He doesn't use skills when fighting the 3 bosses.He doesn't say anything (not even a "wtf!") or logout after he died. He just stayed there rotting in the swamp.Now, I don't mind him b…

sGE is opening its Giovanni server on 22 Dec 2008 1700h, with x2 EXP rate for 30 days. The 3rd civilization Zeia (aka Errac) will be released in Jan 2009, probably with the v3.0 contents (expert stances) along with it.

During v2.6, sGE client used a font which supports ASCII characters, which are often used in family and faction names. Later patches changed the font, rendering most ASCII characters into unsightly square boxes.

But it is possible to restore the old v2.6 font, so that the client displays this instead:

Simply download and uncompress font.rar with WinRAR, then copy font.ipf into Granado Espada\ge folder. Backup original file, if desired. The game client must be closed during this operation. Thanks to Brugal of Bach for this file!

For the first time, the veterans managed to find Gerero before anybody else did. (When v3.0 comes, it is going to be even harder to find him, since everyone then would want to kill him... The poor thing.) The family managed to fight him solo. Gerero died and dropped Lv.96 enchantment chip, Lv.96 bracelet, and other assorted stuffs. No elite equipment though. Well, at least they will help in making a Lv.100 chip.

The family went on 2 treasure hunts this week, but both treasures were found by another family named Erisia instead. Ugh! Adorabelle (elementalist) went and bought Elementalist Hat from Andre out of sheer frustration resulting from the failed treasur…

Gracielo is one of the characters who has a more developed personality and storyline. (The other notable one is Adelina.) Although I don't really like him, I like the plot involved in his quests. I wish more characters have developed story lines, instead of just "feed-him-50-MP-and-grind-him-to-vet" approach for the recent drug-addicted characters. This is a summary of what happened. For the actual quest guide, see Wiki of the New World.

... ... ...

Gracielo is a young punk who came to the New World in the same ship as the family. After arriving in Coimbra, he bummed around until the family came over and fed him some bread, milk, and chocolate. Thereafter, he made a scene in Camille's shop, forcing the girl to employ him. (Aggressive job interview...) The family defeated him, with some help from Hippolite, Camille's brother. Gracielo then joined the family.

After joining the family for some time, Gracielo started to loiter in Coimbra and beat up some thugs at the ob…

Most players are familiar with the chat command to display a clan profile, as such:

/partyprofile clan_name .... display the clan profile.

But there are several other chat commands (entered into the chat window) available. You must have the proper authority for some commands, i.e. you cannot kick a member unless you are the leader or vice-leader. (Clans are also known as factions in other editions of GE.)

/partycreate clan_name ... create a clan./partyban family_name ... kick a family from the clan./partyinvite family_name ... invite a family to join the clan./partydestroy ... delete a clan./partyout ... leave an existing clan./partyprofilesave profile ... save a profile (description shown in clan profile) for the clan./partynoticesave notice ... save a notice (message shown in clan chat whenever a member moves to a new map) for the clan./partymembertitle family_nameclan_title ... save a title for the designated family in the clan./partymembermemo family_nameclan_memo ... save a memo for…

The Simurgh, Truth's last flawless jewel, the light in which you will be lost to mortal sight, dispersed to nothingness until once more you find in me the selves you were before.-Mantiq al-Tayr (The Parliament of Birds)

Simurgh, also called Angha, is a raptor-like bird in the Persian myths. It is said to be large enough to carry off an elephant or a whale. It appears as a kind of peacock with the head of a dog and the claws of a lion; sometimes however also with a human face. It is benevolent and always female.

Simurgh is so old that it has seen the destruction of the world 3 times, and possesses the knowledge of the ages. It is sometimes said to end its life in flames, much like the phoenix. As the representative of the union of heaven and earth, its task is to purify the land and bestow fertility. It nests in Hōm the Tree of Life, sharing the tree's essence of purity and divinity.

In the Shahnameh (Book of Kings), the Simurgh raised Prince Zal, and delivered Rostam, the Persian…

Thelandira (musk) bought a Lv.100 Corsair Rosso for 15m and enchanted it with DEF 14, DR+3 using only 3 chips! Now she is happy and less envious of Adorabelle (elementalist). Now, at least they have decent armors.

Adorabelle sulks at having less DEF than Thelandira. Romina was AFK-ing in Topolo Durga... and when I return, there was an Insistendo (aka Intensify) Ring on the ground. She hurried to pick it up. The veterans also entered Bellem's Ruins again, fighting Giant Cockatrice (Lv.92), Captain Sharffenberger (Lv.97), Phobitan General (Lv.93), and Swamp Angler (Lv.94) for Elite Laranja e Preto and Elite Royal Guardian.

A pity to have these scout equipment though, since I only use Anahita (Lv.100 scout) for cabinet piece h…

I stumbled upon a post by nzi in a sGE forum topic, which mentions the direction the game is going. Quote for truth:

I still feel like there's a Hack-yu Kim conspiracy to force people to play a more hostile fight-mongering game than they signed up for. Most of the new content is about either rewarding the players who want to kill each other or imposing forms of PK on people who explicitly chose the server where they wouldn't have to deal with that. I have enough stress in my daily life, Mr. Kim - I don't need it forced onto my leisure time as well.

The forced-PK maps include La Tierra d'Amor, and the various Super Fights (e.g. Poison Yard) where the newly added (v2.9) sun stones and rough stones drop. For PK servers, Fire Island is another forced-PK map. I wish there are more contents for casual, non-competitive players as well.

It's probably just my personal idiosyncrasy, but I always found it anti-social to go around killing other players unprovoked. Getting PK'…